Firmware Student Intern - Internship

Akaththi STEP Internship Program Electronics / Firmware (Open-Source
Track)

If building things that actually ship matters to you more than marks

and contributing something useful to the world excites you read on.

The Akaththi STEP Internship Program (Electronics / Firmware) is for
students who want to work on real, open-source ESP-IDF sensor
libraries used in live cultivation environments and shared with the world.

This is not a sandbox.

This is not a demo project.

What you build here will be open-sourced , reviewed, used, and improved by
others.

We select 2 students every month for a 1-month, fully onsite program
inside our farm + research space.

What youll actually work on

• Design and build ESP-IDF sensor libraries (clean APIs, reusable modules)
• Work with real sensors (CO, temperature, humidity, airflow, pressure, etc.)
• Write firmware meant to run continuously , not just pass tests
• Handle noise, failures, calibration issues, and real-world constraints
• Publish and maintain code on GitHub (open-source)
• Learn what it takes to build firmware that other developers can rely on

This is firmware written for the world , not just for Akaththi.

What youre expected to already know

This program assumes you come in with:

• Strong fundamentals in C / C++
• Basic exposure to embedded systems / firmware
• (microcontrollers, GPIO, IC / SPI / UART, interrupts, build systems)
• Comfort reading datasheets , debugging issues, and learning independently

You dont need to be an expert

but you do need to be serious about the craft.

What youll walk away with

• STEP Internship Certificate
• Public GitHub contributions under Akaththi Research Labs
• Experience designing production-grade ESP-IDF libraries
• Exposure to industrial IoT firmware development
• The confidence of knowing your code is being used beyond this internship

This is the kind of work that actually compounds.

Who this is for (Students Only)

• BE / BTech / ME / MTech students in Electronics, ECE, EEE, Embedded Systems, Instrumentation , or related fields

OR

• Any student with strong C/C++ fundamentals who wants to build serious firmware and contribute to open source.

Program Details

Chennai (fully onsite)

1 month

2 students per month

Starts January 2026

Unpaid (learning-first; the value is the work and exposure)

This isnt about finishing tasks.

Its about building something that lasts.

If that excites you, apply.

"Come build firmware that the world can use."